While it's not necessarily unusual for free software to seek ad support, and I can sympathize with that tactic in some cases . . . c'mon, the Ask Toolbar? Bad business decision, IMO.

This excerpt from the dslreports link:

"People trust their security software companies. When they find that trust has been misplaced, winning it back may be impossible. For a company such as Avira, that has worked hard for and earned a stellar reputation in the security community, an ill-advised business decision can be a financial disaster."

My hero is still BillP with WinPatrol . . . the only one I can think of that has not pulled that nonsense yet.

Is this cause to think Avira has declined in detection rates? I don't think so.

Is this cause to select another vendor? For those of us that have a dim view of the Ask toolbar and anybody who partners with them . . . probably.

Thank you all for your replies.
It is really a shame, I'm used to warn my friends and collegues about Ask toolbar and other unwanted or undesiderable add ons.
Hopefully this "Avira toolbar" even if you uncheck it, won't install AskInstallChecker.exe anyway

http://www.online-armor.com/oasis2/file ... xe/2644086

Moreover I fully agree with BobJam
[cite]My hero is still BillP with WinPatrol[/cite]

I started using Winpatrol about ten years ago and it is the first software that I usually install in any computer with Windows

I can understand bundling with an installer to try to create revenue, however bundling with someone that you had once listed as malware... and then removing them from the database is just like saying "Yes, we are for sale... but trust us we won't let anything bad happen to your systems."

It is easy to forget that these free products do cost something, either in bandwidth charges, updates to the software scanner or db, or a large majority of other things... but there are good ways to make money... and then bad ways.

<quote user="jeff134">
I can understand bundling with an installer to try to create revenue, however bundling with someone that you had once listed as malware... and then removing them from the database is just like saying "Yes, we are for sale... but trust us we won't let anything bad happen to your systems."

It is easy to forget that these free products do cost something, either in bandwidth charges, updates to the software scanner or db, or a large majority of other things... but there are good ways to make money... and then bad ways.
[/quote]

Seriously?! Wth! I love Avira just as much as I hate Ask! I dont know what came into their minds but this is absolutely a bad move! Ask, the way I see it, is like a virus. Come on Avira people, you gotta be kidding me!

Who is online

* Please note that Facebook & Google+ logins are no longer supported on the forum. If you previously had your login set up as one of these options - please use the "I forgot my password" link above in order to set up a password for your account. We apologize for the inconvenience.